Fear of rebels' revenge stalks Jajpur

JAJPUR: The police encounter that left five Maoists dead has scared the life out of people living in Tomka and Kaliapani areas in Jajpur district. They fear that the Red radicals might attack them to avenge the deaths.
The situation is so alarming that the roads that pass through the areas are deserted even during the day and schools are registering thin attendance."We are very scared. Rebels have always killed innocent people when any Maoist is killed in an encounter. So we are very frightened," Sukura Murmu of Raighati village said. Fear also lurks large among 12 villages in Tomka and Kaliapani bordering the forest. Among these villages are Mahagiri, Saruabila, Tungeisuni, Chingudiapal, Kamarda and many others.
They believe that the rebels are camping inside the forests of Mahagiri hill and might launch an attack any time. "We are not sending our children to schools. We feel terrified to go to the village market even during the evening. We are also not using the road that connects Tomka with Kaliapani. Fear has gripped us," another resident Budhiram Hansda said.
"Though earlier a few rebels have been arrested, this is for the first time five Maoists were killed in an encounter," he said. "If sources are to be believed, rebels are now targeting security forces in Kalinga Nagar where 14 tribals opposing a steel project were gunned down by police in 2006.
"The powerful explosives recovered under a culvert during search operation after encounter were meant to destroy police vehicle. But fortunately the encounter took place and the explosives were seized," SP (Jajpur) D S Kuttey said, alerting people not to get panicky as combing operation is on.
Out of the five Maoists killed during the encounter, four were from Telkoi in Keonjhar district, one from Baligotha in Kalinga Nagar. Among them were a couple and their two daughters. But parents of the fifth one didn't go to the police station to identify them fearing arrest. One of the Maoist, Dhiren, was the chief of Kalinga Nagar sub-divisional committee of the three squads operating in six districts of Jajpur, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Angul, Deogarh and Mayurbhanj.
Recently, five minor girls who surrendered to Keonjhar police also claimed that they were members of the KNSDC of CPI (Maoist). "This implies the presence of Maoists in the forests of Tomka and Kaliapani. As these areas have an easy access to Keonjhar and Dhenkanal forests along with Mayurbhanj, we suspect the Maoists have built their network very strongly in a bid to spread in these districts. However, we have intensified combing operation so that the Red radicals would hardly get a chance to launch an attack on people," a police official said.